St Nicholas, Shepperton

 

A mile or so beyond the branch line terminus that bears its name, the attractive old village centre of Shepperton sits on the bank of the Thames, where it curves sharply through a 180 degree meander.

The river has played a decisive role in the development of the church, for in 1605-6 a flood took away much of the 12th Century building. It was rebuilt using salvaged materials, although recent archaeology suggests at least some of the 12th Century structure survived to be incorporated into the new church. Externally, much use was made of flint and stone chequerboard, and it looks as though some of the Perpendicular windows survived, too. 

The west tower was added at the expense of the Rector, Lewis Atterbury, in 1714. This is a quaint brick structure with the surprisingly small plan of 12ft by 8ft, which necessitated an external staircase to the ringing chamber and west gallery. The story goes that Queen Anne, to whom Atterbury was Chaplain, suggested the church would be improved with the addition of a tower, so he paid for it himself - but clearly kept the costs down. The attractive tower clock was added in 1769.

The interior has a modest, homely nave, with transepts and a rather dark chancel, thanks to some heavy Victorian glass. The west gallery was added in 1834 and bears the Royal Arms, probably those of William IV. In the north transept is an unusual survivor in the form of a manorial gallery, accessed by an external staircase. The fittings are all from the 19th Century and include several rows of box pews in the nave, complete with poppyheads.

The church is centre of a busy parish, with close connections to the primary school that bears its name.

St Nicholas, Church Square, Shepperton TW17 9JY

All Saints, Kingsley

All Saints sits 5 miles west of Alton on the road to Bordon. It's a good representative of those small Victorian parish churches, built by estate owners, in their dozens in villages across England.

Built in 1876 to replace the older parish church, it comprises a nave, chancel and south porch. The exterior is of polygonal stonework with ashlar and ironstone banding. The west end is a bell turret with twin openings, and what looks like three bells. Windows are filled with plate tracery. The interior is a bit of a surprise: the nave has rather startling exposed crimson brick, with patterns executed in yellow brick, leading to a more restrained whitewashed chancel. The fittings are all Victorian.

The church sits in a well-kept churchyard on the edge of the village, next to the starting point for a number of walking routes around the delightful Kingsley Common. It is in a combined benefice with Oakhanger, with which it shares regular Sunday services (though, at the time of writing, further parish reorganisation is on the cards).

All Saints, Forge Road, Kingsley GU35 9ND

St Andrew, Earlsfield

St Andrew's is a late Victorian red-brick neo-Gothic church executed on a grand scale, with some nice Arts & Crafts furnishings.

The church was built in 1889 to designs by Edward William Mountford (1855-1908), architect of Sheffield Town Hall and the Old Bailey. Intended to serve the burgeoning (and then working-class) suburbs growing along the London & South Western Railway line, its present scale derives from the addition of a further two bays to the nave in 1902, together with an imposing west front with twin turrets and three big lancets.

The layout comprises a continuous nave and chancel, with transepts and aisles, a south chancel chapel and north vestry, the roof surmounted by a fleche. Inside, the nave - over 45ft high - has three bays of large pointed arches with aisles, with a further bay for the transepts, and a further two bays for the nave. The exterior and interior are almost inverted in their colour schemes: the exterior is red brick, with golden Doulton stone dressings; the interior is light brown stock brick with red brick dressings, again with Doulton stone piers for the arcades. In contrast, the St Andrew's Chapel has a more intimate, almost cosy feel.

The largely Arts and Crafts fittings are a delight: best is the large but incredibly delicate iron chancel screen, which actually came in the 1920's from the church of St. Mary, Trinity Road; the rather more sturdy screens in the chapel were made by Starke Gardner & Co. The octagonal font is by Doulton & Co, in stone and blur terracotta, and has an impressive cover. Four of the eight sides depict biblical scenes, comprising the finding of Moses, Hannah bringing Samuel to Eli, Christ in the Manger and Christ blessing children. 

In 1911, the west front was graced with a large twin-faced clock with filigree decoration. Almost municipal in style, it was also designed by Mountford, and dedicated to Edward VII. The stained glass is largely unremarkable, although the chapel's east window is unusually in the shape of a saltire cross, with the St Andrew's head in the centre. Four small roundels have glass depicting three different types of fish, and a boat.

The church has both traditional and modern styles of worship, but emphasises an inclusive welcome to all. During the week, the west end of the nave hosts the Home community cafe, which seems to be a very popular venue: I can vouch for the quality of the homemade lemonade, and cakes.

St Andrew, Garrett Lane, London SW18 3QG

St Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church, Brookwood Cemetery

Brookwood Cemetery is the largest in the UK, covering some 500 acres. It is a Grade 1 listed park in its own right, and is magnificently landscaped. It is also home to a church with origins that are, to say the least, extraordinary.

Tucked away next to what was until the 1940s the Necropolis railway station, is the shrine church to Saint Edward (962-978), the Anglo-Saxon king and martyr. Just 12 or 13 when he became King, his legitimacy was contested and he was murdered a few years later at or near Corfe Castle. The subsequent history is fascinating, but too long to recount in detail here: suffice to say that Edward's remains received a hurried burial at Wareham, and a rather more magnificent reburial in Shaftesbury Abbey 20 years later.  Hidden during the dissolution, what are reputed to be Edward's bones were rediscovered in 1931 by John Wilson-Claridge. A dispute over where they should be reinterred meant that, for many years, they rested, rather ignominiously,  in a bank vault in Woking.

Negotiations finally concluded that they should be interred by the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia, and what was then a mortuary chapel was purchased with the aim of housing the bones, and establishing a small monastic community to care for them.  The enshrinement took place in 1984. This is now under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church.  The building itself was built in 1909 and is in a charming chalet style, with the interior comprising exposed brick and wood - albeit now hidden behind a multitude of beautiful icons.

As well as the shrine and monastic community, which holds its daily services here, the church is home to a multinational orthodox worshipping community. Visitors are welcome but asked to respect the sanctity of the church. On our visit, we were very warmly welcomed by one of the brothers. 

St Edward, St Cyprian's Avenue, Brookwood, GU24 0BL

Holy Trinity, Balsham

Balsham's church is notable on the outside for the large and heavily buttressed tower: the interior for a remarkable chancel, with a mediaeval rood screen, extraordinary choir stalls and impressive memorial brasses.

The church has Saxon foundations, but is solidly Gothic, with an Early Gothic tower, Perpendicular nave and aisles, and Decorated chancel (the East window is particularly fine example of reticulated tracery). The additional buttressing to the tower was added in the 16th century - the original flat angle buttresses being supplemented by a diagonal buttress and two flat buttresses on the west and north walls (obliterating the west door and window in the process). More reinforcement - this time in the form of concrete and steel - had to be added in 1986.

Inside, it has the feel of a spacious town church, but the main event is clearly the chancel. This is entered through a beautifully preserved late mediaeval rood screen, complete with loft, coloured in turquoise and gold. The only thing that detracts is a floor to ceiling plastic screen, which one hopes it temporary. Within the chancel are the celebrated choir stalls - ten on each wall, and three either side of the aisle facing east. They are extraordinary: each stall has carved arm rests, with shoulder height projections, which are also carved. Beneath the seats are misericords. The carvings depict animal and human heads, including lions, fish, birds and dolphins, green men, and some fantastical combinations.

 

On the floor are two impressive ecclesiastical brasses. The older is to John de Sleford, Rector of Balsham (d. 1401). He stands beneath an impressive triple canopy, surmounted by the Trinity and angels. His cope is decorated with saints. The reason for this grandeur (and it was he who probably paid for the choir stalls) is his impressively ecclesiastical curriculum vitae: Canon of Ripon, Archdeacon of Wells, Prebendary of St Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster, Chaplain to the Queen, and Keeper of the Wardrobe to Edward III. On the other side of the chancel, and equally impressive, is the memorial to John Blodwell (d. 1426). His canopy is simpler, but the columns have saints in niches, and his cope is also heavily decorated. Balsham was clearly a prized living in the 15th century.

Other items of interest include the impressive font cover, carved in the 1920s by the then Rector; and a Saxon coffin lid, with a cross and interlacing decoration. In the north aisle is a small wooden chapel to St Nicholas - also the work of the early 20th Century, but assembled largely from 17th Century panels.

The church is the centre of a busy parish life, and part of the Granta Vale benefice of six churches. On our visit, a sizeable team of enthusiastic and friendly volunteers was preparing the church to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, with an impressive array of themed flower arrangements.

Holy Trinity, Church Ln, Balsham CB21 4DS

Holy Trinity, Hildersham

Hildersham is a pretty little village on the River Granta - which can be crossed here either by bridge or via a deceptively deep ford. Its church has a restrained exterior of flint and pebble, which betrays nothing of its startling interior.

The church itself dates from around 1200, with the nave and aisles showing rebuilding later in the 13th and 14th Centuries. The windows are mostly Decorated, and have lovely tracery, though the heavy Victorian glass and the scraped walls render the interior dark and gloomy. But perhaps this enhances the drama of the rebuilt Victorian chancel and south aisle. This is longer than the nave, and the rebuilding, carried under the supervision of the Goodwin family (who supplied the church with its rectors for almost the whole of the 19th Century), included a stunning, high Victorian decorative scheme. 

This was designed by the firm of Clayton & Bell, and apparently carried out by Italian craftsmen. The effect is reminiscent of  Burgess at Cardiff Castle: every square inch is frescoed, with biblical scenes, saints, and angels, and patterned with floral motifs. The chancel also holds some impressive brasses, including that of Robert Paris (d.1408) and his wife in an unusual pose, kneeling at the foot of the cross; a skeleton in a shroud dating from 1530; and another of Henry Paris, in impressive armour (c. 1488). 

The church was celebrated for its rare wooden effigies from the early 14th Century, of a knight and his lady: sadly these were stolen in 1977. As a result, the chancel is now fitted with alarms.

Holy Trinity is part of the Granta Vale benefice, with services every Sunday around its 7 churches.

Holy Trinity, High Street, Hildersham CB21 6BU

St John, Duxford Green

Declared redundant as early as 1874, St John's is now under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Its interior is wonderfully unrestored, and illustrates what many churches would have looked like before the wave of Victorian rebuilding.

The church has rustic charm before you even enter, with a nave, tower, chancel, north aisle and north chapel, all constructed in a mellow mixture of local stone, tiles, bricks and rubble. The body of the church is essentially Norman of c.1100, clearly visible in the simple east and west arches of the tower and south door. This is surmounted by a tympanum containing a rosette in the middle of a cross - some experts believe this typically Anglo-Saxon motif may predate the rest of the building. 

The chancel was lengthened early in the 13th Century and the tower was heightened in 1280. Around 1330 the north chapel was added, and has marvellous Decorated tracery, including a splendid east window flanked by two wonderfully elaborate niches. The north aisle and its arcade are mid-15th Century, as are the porch and nave windows; the east chancel window dates from a rebuilding during the late 17th or early 18th Century.

So much for the architecture: the real treasure here is the atmosphere, derived in part from the floor - a hodge-podge of tile, brick and stone; partly from the flaking creamy whitewash, which abounds in traces of wall painting; and partly the exposed mediaeval woodwork in the roofs. The paintings are slowly being uncovered and conserved, and date from 12th Century onwards. The earliest are those on the Norman tower arches, and include the Lamb of God flanked by Angels. The chancel wall has fragmentary paintings on the life of Christ, including the appearance of the Angel to the Shepherds. 

There are several tiers of 13th-century paintings on the west wall of the chancel. These include two devils with a wheel - possibly part of a Doom cycle. Beneath are scenes of the Crucifixion: a soldier piercing the breast of Christ; Joseph of Arimathea asking Pilate for the Body of Christ; the removal of Christ’s body from the Cross; and the Tomb with sleeping soldiers. More gruesomely, to the right of the arch is the story of St Barbara, strung up by her hair, with soldiers piercing her breasts. There are 15th century paintings in the north aisle, including robed Bishops, two figures which may show Christ with the Coronation of the Virgin; and the remains of a "Christ of the Trades" (showing how the tools of different trades inflicted further wounds on Christ, if used on the Sabbath).

The furnishings are entirely in harmony with the rest of the church. There is a 13th Century font; 14th and 15th Century mediaeval benches; a 17th century pulpit and communion rail, and a row of 18th Century hat pegs. (The north chapel was used as a school room from the mid 17th century until 1847.) Finally the east nave wall has a set of 18th boards with the Creed, Commandments, and Lord's Prayer.

A visit will easily the repay the effort of searching it out.

St John, Green St, Duxford CB22 4RG

St Peter, Duxford

The large and surprisingly industrial village of Duxford has two churches: St John's, Duxford Green, now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust; and St Peter's, which has been the sole parish church since 1874.

The tower and chancel are Norman, the tower retaining twin round headed bell openings under a larger blind arch, and a handsome wide arch into the nave. The aisles were added and chancel rebuilt in the 14th century, and the Decorated windows reflect this, though the arcades and niches at the east end of the north aisle are 15th Century Perpendicular. The church was heavily restored by Ewan Christian in 1884-91, which included the addition of marble mosaics in the chancel, in the Arts & Crafts style.

The interior is rather heavily whitewashed - including all the stonework - but there are some nice 18th Century monuments and a handsome communion rail of c.1700. The most interesting furnishing is the font, which has a roughly carved 14th Century stem in the form of tracery. It looks heavily weathered - was it outside, at some point?

The church is part of the "Hinkledux" group of parishes (see the entry for Ickleton) and has a Facebook Group covering community activities, including the "Duxford Tiddlers" parent and baby group.

St Peter's Street, Duxford, CB22 4RP

St Mary, Ickleton

St Mary's was already celebrated for its Norman nave, but repairs after a fire in 1979 revealed an astonishingly complete set of early wall paintings on the north and east nave walls.

The exterior of this cruciform and aisled church is itself very attractive, sitting prominently in a lovely churchyard, the tower topped by a broached lead spire. But none of this prepares one for the interior. The 11th Century nave is narrow and tall, its Norman clerestory intact, but it is the arcade that makes an immediate impression: this comprises simple, unmoulded round arches, resting on cushion capital and slender columns - some of them reused Roman work. There is a narrow north aisle and a broad, possibly 14th Century south aisle. The west arch of the tower is also Norman up to the tops of the capitals, but the rest of the tower seems to be of c.1300, though the tower was heightened in 1340. The transepts are also 14th century work along with the upper clerestory. The chancel, though much restored, is 15th Century Perpendicular. 

The wall paintings on the north arcade date from late 12th Century and reminded me, in their use of simple colours - red, black and white - of those from the Lewes school in Sussex. They depict scenes from the Passion: the Last Supper (with Judas stealing a fish from the table); the betrayal and arrest of Jesus;  his whipping and, in the last scene, him carrying the Cross to His crucifixion. In the spandrels are scenes of the martyrdoms of St Peter, St Andrew and St Lawrence (or possibly St John). The wall paintings above the east nave wall are later, possibly 14th Century, and show the remnants of a Doom. Visible is Christ in Judgement, attended by angels and the Virgin, bearing her breasts in supplication - a rare and unusual motif.

The church also has some interesting furnishings: several mediaeval poppyheads survive on its benches, one depicting St Michael weighing souls, another of an angel with Tudor roses, one with two kissing fowls and another with a curled dragon. The benches themselves are decorated with fleuron friezes, but the subjects also include a man, a bird and the head of a horse with harness. The chancel screen is original 15th century work, and retains traces of colour.

The parish is part of a combined benefice with Duxford, Hinxton and Whittlesford (known locally as "Hinkledux"): the schedule of services and other events can be found on its website. Ickleton also hosts regular coffee mornings and other events. It is normally open during daylight hours for visitors and private prayer.

St Mary, Church Street, Ickleton CB10 1SL

St Mary, Sawston

St Mary sits slightly away from Sawston's busy main High Street, and includes architecture from the Romanesque and all the principal Gothic periods, along with some nice memorials.

The church has a nave with aisles, chancel and west tower. The oldest fabric dates from the 12th Century, and is seen in the Norman doorway to the chancel (photo above) and the three west bays of the nave, which are rounded and unmoulded. Moving east, after a short blank wall, there are two further bays of pointed arches in the Early English style, dating from the early to mid 13th Century. These probably replaced the original chancel when the church was extended eastwards. The chancel arch is Perpendicular but the east window Decorated. Also Dec are the east window on the south aisle, and the tower (which dates from around 1400). The clerestory and large new Perpendicular windows on the south chancel wall were added in the 15th Century.

Despite the jumble of architectural periods, the church has a homely feel, helped by the sensitive replacement of pews by good quality chairs and a stone floor. In the chancel is a fine tomb chest to Lady Elizabeth de la Pole (d.1423) and above this, the canopy forms the memorial to John Huddleston (d. 1530). His funeral helm is attached to the wall above. Next to these is a painted alabaster wall tablet Gregory Milner, fellow of Trinity 1616, and his wife, shown kneeling, facing each other. The church also has a good number of brasses. These include a civilian in fine armour c.1480 with a missing head; two to Robert Lockton and his wife from around 1500, showing them tightly wrapped in funeral shrouds; one to a finely robed priest c.1420, with a later inscription to one John Huntington (d.1558); and finally to William Richardson (priest, d.1527).

On my visit, I bumped into the cheerful and welcoming Vicar, departing in traditional Anglican style on a bicycle. The church - which serves what its website proudly proclaims is "Cambridgeshire's largest village" - clearly has an active community, boasting craft sessions, concerts, and children's church. Sundays have Holy Communion followed by an informal worship service later in the morning, with Holy Communion also on Thursdays.

St Mary, Church Lane, Cambridge CB22 3JR